Hello all, I'm very new hear so bear with me. I'm looking for a little help on deciding what size and what speaker to use. Any help is a appriciated.

I'm looking to set up a my first hi-fi stereo. I'm working with a 12' x 17' room. I usually listen to Rock / Metal / Hip-Hop / Country / Electornica (I know weird but I'm really down on anything). I'm going to be using my Macbook to play my music through a Cambridge DAC Magic. From there I will be using an Onkyo TX-8555 (yeah I'm on a budget here). If you're unfamiliar with this unit it is a stereo amp/receicer with 100 watts per channel with A and B hook-ups. I want to get a pair of speakers that I can Bi-wire and get good bass out of since I will not be adding a subwoofer anytime soon. I also want to be able to crank these things pretty loud and really fill the room. Right now I'm deciding between PSB, Klipsch, EPOS, Warfdale, B&W and maybe Monitor.

I really like the Kipsch RB-81's because of the 8" driver. Wil a 6" or 5" be enough to fill this room with loud rock music? I'm looking to spend less than $1,000 for the pair but would love to spend half that if reccomended. What do you guys think?

I'm Also going to be using an external hard drive to store all my lossless music files. Connected to my macbook via usb, then to the dac, again connected via usb. Will that be a problem?

Have you actually listened to any of the speakers you're considering? IMO asking someone else to pick a speaker for you is just like having someone else pick your wife or girlfriend.

My advice:

Make the effort and take the time to actually listen to some speakers. That's the only way you can make an informed decision.

As far as woofer size goes; the size of the woofer has something to do with the overall bass. However, buying any speaker on woofer size alone is like picking a girlfriend or wife using bra size as the qualifier.

Well I'm asking because there are no retailers in my area that carry the products I'm asking about. I also don't drive which makes it more difficult. The only ones I've heard are the Klipsh because a friend of mine has the RB-51's. I'm not asking for anyone to pick a speaker for me, just a simple recommendation.

IMO bra size is a qualifier and a pair of speakers don't really compare to women.

Anyway, I do agree with you, auditioning speakers is the only way to really see if you like the sound of them. I just wish there was somewhere I could do that. Thanks for the input though.

you could stop right there. But, for real bass consider getting the RB-82 instead. They will take up the same room as the RB-81s on stands and will give you bass extension down into the 25Hz area (-10dB). Klipsch are generally pretty efficient speakers so you will be able to crank them plenty with your Onkyo amp. Whether bi-wiring will be any improvement over relatively thick single wire is questionable. Your digital music server configuration sounds good to me, that's what the USB interface was intended to do. May not be the best implementation, but certainly will do the trick.

Well I'm asking because there are no retailers in my area that carry the products I'm asking about. I also don't drive which makes it more difficult. The only ones I've heard are the Klipsh because a friend of mine has the RB-51's. I'm not asking for anyone to pick a speaker for me, just a simple recommendation.

IMO bra size is a qualifier and a pair of speakers don't really compare to women.

Anyway, I do agree with you, auditioning speakers is the only way to really see if you like the sound of them. I just wish there was somewhere I could do that. Thanks for the input though.

My point was, there are many more variables involved than the size of the woofer. Choosing a speaker or a girlfriend solely on bra or woofer size leaves out all the other variables.

If you're located near a large metropolitan area maybe you could take a day or two and visit the B&M stores. When I bought wire and cable from The Cable Company in New Hope PA my girlfriend and I took the train and made it a full day outing.

there are plenty of audio stores there which may not have what you have listed but will have many possibilities that you have not listed. If that is where you are my guess is that there are stores in your area which carry some of the brands you listed.